Love Like Winter
by ramen-is-my-goddess
Summary: This is my AkuRoku day contribution, sorry it's late! Luffs!


_Okay peeps, I know it's two days late, but I've been busy, okay? I was spending AkuRoku day with friends, so BACK OFF!_

_Ahem, anyhoodles, here's my AkuRoku Day contribution...yes it's sad and angsty, but I think it's beautiful. Plus, it's got lyrics from my favorite AFI song!! YAYNESS!_

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own KH, the characters, or the song Love Like Winter by AFI._

_ENJOYS!! _

**(and because FFN is being a biatch again, this is my line break, lulzie)**

_-Warn your warmth to turn away  
Here it's December, every day-_

Through the darkened streets he strode, determination in his step, a hardened resolve in the empty cavern where his heart would have resided had he had one. The shadows mirrored his movements before detaching from the walls, crawling along in the crevices and alleys, tracking his every false breath. False because he had no life. Just as he had no answers. Answers to questions that plagued him night after sleepless night. Not that the sun ever rose in the World That Never Was. Here, it was always dark. Here, it was forever night. Forever cold. Just like him.

He had to know, so he was leaving. It was the only way he could learn anything.

"Your mind is made up then?"

Gritting his teeth, he kept walking past the figure leaning against a darkened wall, staring after him. He should've known…

He paused for a moment to clarify. "Why did the keyblade choose me? I have to know." He wouldn't find his answers here, they both knew that.

"You can't turn your back on the Organization!" He exclaimed, pulling away from the wall to glare, his black cloak swaying with the movement. "Get on their bad side and they'll destroy you!"

Rolling his eyes up to the sky, he turned to look at his one and only friend over a shoulder.

"No one would miss me…" turning his face back forward, he began walking away once more.

"That's not true! …I would…"

He wanted to stop once more, just those two simple words made him want to stop, but he knew that if he paused once more, he'd never leave. And then he'd never find his answers. So he kept walking. And walking.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed onto his arm with surprising force, whirling him around until he was pressed up against the other's body.

_-Press your lips to the sculptures  
__And surely you'll stay-_

"Don't walk away from me…_I_ would miss you." He whispered. Their lips were a scant inch apart, that false breath of theirs mingling in the small space between them. Being so close, he could almost imagine feeling the other's heat, the beat of the other's heart…but only almost.

"The minute I'm gone, you'll forget all about me." He assured, pushing away. "I can't stay. I won't." he couldn't stare into those piercing green eyes as he said his parting words, and left for good.

"Not even for you."

_-Love like winter-_

Everything burned.

It seemed to originate in his chest and spread throughout his entire body, engulfing it in invisible flames. He couldn't breathe, a heavy weight resting upon him. Not that he needed to breathe, right?

Then why was he gasping so desperately?

"Axel…what were you trying to do?" The boy kneeling next to him asked softly, those damnable eyes of his so like the one he'd searched for. The one he'd given up everything to find. To see. Just once more.

But unlike _his_ eyes, Sora's actually held warmth.

_-I barely dreamt her yesterday (yesterday)-_

"I wanted to see Roxas…" Sora drew back slightly in surprise before his eyes darkened in pity. "He…was the only one I liked…" why was he carrying on? Maybe because he could see Roxas in Sora. Yes, that must be it. He was confessing, hoping that somehow, some way, Roxas would hear him through his Other. "He made me feel…like I had a heart…it's kind of…funny…" he let out a choked laugh, unable to keep his eyes from returning to the blue depths above him. All around them, the darkness was growing, small pieces of his very being floating away and dispersing to infinity.

Axel tried to inhale, smelling nothing but scorched flesh and the sweet smell of the ocean from the only one who'd ever shown him compassion.

Turning to face Sora once more, Axel smiled up at the boy. "You make me feel…the same…" he trailed off at the stunned look on Sora's face, realizing too late what he'd just said. He closed his eyes in pain, both physical and…no, that couldn't be _emotional_ hurt. He didn't have feelings. He was a Nobody. A Nobody who was fading away…taking a final breath, he stared hard up into those sapphire eyes. "Kairi's in the castle dungeon. Now go!" He raised a hand weakly, the appendage shaking slightly as he used what was left of his quickly draining energy to create a dark portal that would lead Sora to the one _he_ searched for.

He knew the end was here. And as his body was quickly consumed by the darkness, Axel felt something akin to…fear…pricking his chest. His breath caught as he realized that, faced with true death, he was…afraid.

Soft, almost insubstantial hands wrapped around his neck from above, small hands cupping his chin and tilting his head back. Axel looked up in stunned wonder, amazed to see that face he'd longed to see. That face that had haunted him since that night…that face that he'd given his very existence to gaze at once again.

_-She said, "it seems you're somewhere, far away,"  
__To his face-_

There, kneeling above him, was Roxas. His skin was paler than ever, almost white, and there was a blue mist coming off of his bare frame, but it was _Roxas_. Pale blond hair, made almost yellow by the light coming off of him, shadowed his eyes, but Axel could _feel_ them on his face.

And strangely, as the last of him disappeared into black, that fear dissipated, and he felt, for a brief moment, completely warm. Not burning. Just warm. There was so much he wanted to say, but he was out of time.

His lips formed words unspoken, but their meaning resonated deep into the apparition comforting him in his final moments.

"Roxas…I missed you…"

And then everything went black.

_-Love like winter-_

* * *

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Okay, so, I got this idea from a picture in my AkuRoku folder, dun remember who the artist was, but it was of Axel laying on his back, flames burning around him and he's starting to fade and Roxas is kneeling above him, covered in this pale glow (since by the time Axel died, he'd gone back to Sora) and holding him, smiling and stuffs. And I was listening to Love Like Winter and went..."ZOMGWTFBBQ I MUST WRITE!" so I did. Hope you liked it.

Hope to see you all soon with something other than a random oneshot!

Luffs,

-Ramen


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